Comparing Destruction in Steinbecks Flight and Londons...

Journey to Destruction in Steinbecks Flight and Londons To Build a Fire Not many people have to face death in the cold wasteland of the Arctic or rugged mountains of California, but Pepe and the man do. Although the ironic destruction of Pepe and the man were caused by relentless forces of nature, their attitudes and reasons for going on their journeys differed. The setting in both stories consisted of extreme climate and conditions. In Flight the climate was desert hot during the day and chilling cold at night. The Torres family had their farm, a few sloping acres above a cliff that dropped to the brown reefs and to the hissing white waters of the ocean. Behind the farm the stone mountains stood up against the sky.†¦show more content†¦He spat again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow the spittle crackled. He knew at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow, but this spittle had crackled in the air. Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below--how much colder he did not know. Both of the mens attitudes lead to their destruction. Pepe was very lazy and immature. All day you do foolish things with the knife, like a toy-baby, his mother stormed. Big lazy, you must catch the horse and put on him thy fathers saddle. Pepe also had a hot temper. During the travel to Monterey, Pepe had a little to drink and ended up killing a man. There was wine to drink. Pepe drank wine. The little quarrel--the man started toward Pepe and then the knife--it went almost by itself. The man said names to me I could not allow. In the other story, the mans attitude problem was that he was too self-confident. He pushed himself to the limit which was farther than he could go. But the temperature did not matter. He also didnt listen to the advice of others. The man from Sulphur Creek had spoken the truth when telling how cold it sometimes got in the country, and used his knowledge to his best advantage. Fifty degrees below zero was to him just precisely fifty degrees below z ero. That there should be anything more to it than that was a thought that never entered his head. Their reasons for going on their journeys differed. Pepe was forced to go on his